Bangladesh mobile phones can't ring national anthem
Bangladesh's Supreme Court on Monday banned the use of the national anthem as a ringtone for mobile telephones or for any other commercial purpose.
"The national anthem can't be used as a business tool," the Supreme Court said, upholding a 2010 high court ruling.
... Read More

Bangladeshi secular blogger hacked to death
By Sarah Kaplan May 12
Ananta Bijoy Das, a Bangladeshi writer known for advocating science and secularism, was hacked to death by masked men wielding machetes while on his way to work Tuesday morning.
Das died instantly in the attack, police in Sylhet city told the Associated Press. He is the third Bangladeshi writer to be killed in less than four months.
... Read More

Growing Bangladesh's rapid urbanization, brick by brick
About 11,000 brick fields are established across Bangladesh to meet the growing demand of construction works as urbanization rises rapidly in the country. About 4,000 brick kilns burn nearly 2 million tons of coal and 2 million tons of firewood annually, according to the Bangladeshi Department of Environment.
... Read More

Fashion revolution starts in Bangladesh
EXCERPT: A comprehensive, transparent database and map of manufacturers—whatever their size—would begin to make Bangladesh’s vast universe of garment manufacturers visible to auditors, regulators, banks, and brands. To be sure, even many factories that do appear in public databases are hurting for resources to make them safe and stable workplaces. The team at Stern hopes their map will help make sure the neediest businesses aren’t left further behind.
... Read More

Following criticism from human-rights groups, international retailers who source their products from Bangladesh set up two separate safety programs to inspect and improve the country’s 4,000-odd factories.
In the two years since the collapse, compensation has been
... Read More

DHAKA, April 19 (Reuters) - Bangladesh aims to raise its exports of readymade garments (RMG) to Canada at least fivefold to $3.5 billion by 2021, the chief of the Canada Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CanCham Bangladesh) said on Sunday.
... Read More

Bangladesh schools stay open — even for cyclones
By Julian Spector
BARISAL DISTRICT, Bangladesh — Cyclones have killed hundreds of thousands in this South Asian country over the last century, but in the last two decades the death toll has declined rapidly, thanks to the widespread rollout of early warning systems and shelters. The newest addition to that arsenal won’t just save Bangladeshis; it will educate them.

In Bangladesh, Gender Equality Comes on the Airwaves
By Naimul Haq
EXCERPT: ...
women across the country who are not content to sit by and wait for the situation to change have taken matters into their own hands. They are doing so by getting on the airwaves and using the radio as a tool to raise the voices of women and bring rural issues into the limelight.
... Read More

Mandatory swimming lessons
This is amazing - that a country would make swim lessons mandatory - but understandable given the horror stories of floods and consequent deaths emanating from there every year. I hope there is good follow through and that infrastructure is made available as necessary.
... Read More

A Top Islamist Is Executed by Bangladesh
DHAKA, Bangladesh — Bangladesh on Saturday executed a senior Islamist party official convicted of crimes against humanity during the country’s 1971 independence war with Pakistan, two officials and two television stations said.
The party official, Mohammad Qamaruzzaman, was hanged at the central jail in the capital, Dhaka, said a prison official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the highly political nature of the matter.
Forman Ali, a senior prison official, told reporters outside the jail ... Read More

From Dhaka to Washington
First Days is a weekly series in partnership with the South Asian American Digital Archive, documenting the first-person stories of immigrant America. This week, the story of Molla Anam - who left Dhaka, Bangladesh for Washington, D.C. in 1974 - as told to his daughter, Nasia Anam.

EXCERPT: ... I flew to New York, but the plane could not land there because of dense fog. All the planes were diverted to other cities. ... Read More

Two Bangladeshi Bloggers Assassinated for Critical Speech
The Netizen Report offers an international snapshot of challenges, victories, and emerging trends in Internet rights around the world. It originally appears each week on Global Voices Advocacy. Ellery Roberts Biddle, Mohamed ElGohary, Lisa Ferguson, Weiping Li, Bojan Perkov and Sarah Myers West contributed to this edition.
Bloggers in Bangladesh are facing increasingly violent threats for their criticism of religious conservatism. In the past month, two bloggers, Oyasiqur Rahman Babu and Avijit Roy, have been hacked ... Read More

Bangladesh on the Brink
The recent political turbulence sweeping Bangladesh has cost more than 100 lives since January and job strikes have brought near standstill to Dhaka, the country’s capital and economic nerve center. Stretching back to independence, the country’s divorce with Pakistan has left a trail of political instability resulting from frequent military interventions, high-profile political assassinations and a dysfunctional democratic order that revolves around two political parties. Atop these bipolar camps are two women known as the ... Read More

Murder of Another Secular Blogger in Bangladesh
Washington, D.C. (March 30, 2015) -- Leaders at the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) strongly condemned the murder of secular blogger, Washikur Rahman, who was hacked to death by three madrassa students in Bangladesh on Monday morning. Rahman was reportedly targeted for his criticism of religious fundamentalism and radical Islamist groups in Bangladesh, including Jamaat-e-Islami.

“The tragic murder of Washikur Rahman is part of a deeply troubling trend and represents a struggle for Bangladesh’s soul,” said Jay ... Read More

“The center will strengthen UC Berkeley’s leadership in the realm of South Asia scholarship and help us expand our ties with a growing nation that is rapidly becoming a vital player on the world’s economic and political stage,” said Dirks. “The center will be integral to our efforts to study and develop solutions to challenges that know no national border.”

Subir Chowdhury, whose foundation provided the $1 million gift that made the center possible, left Bangladesh ... Read More

“After reviewing the full body of Razib Khan’s work, we are no longer comfortable using him as a regular, periodic contributor,” Times spokesperson Eileen Murphy wrote in an email to Gawker. “We remain open to consideration of submissions from him to our op-Ed pages, both in print ... Read More

Shahria Sharmin had gone to her husband’s factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, looking to tell a positive story about the garment industry, one that would offset negative public perceptions. What she found, instead, was an even more challenging topic: the lives of five hijras, the local term for the culture of men who identify as women. By day, they presented themselves as men, but at night they dressed as women and kept a home ... Read More

Some of the migrants fled and were assumed to have taken shelter with local residents, Khalekuzzaman said, while the 136 who were captured were sent back to Myanmar.
Thousands of Rohingya have fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar since religious violence there in 2012, some of them falling into the hands of human traffickers who routinely hold them in remote camps in Thailand and demand ransom for their release.
... Read More

Four people were confirmed dead. Rescuers also pulled about 40 survivors from the debris after the factory, run by a subsidiary of the Bangladesh army, collapsed in the port town of Mongla, 335 km (210 miles) southwest of the capital, Dhaka.

A fire official and media reports say the roof of a five-story cement factory being ... Read More

The widening polarization in Bangladesh threatens to hobble an economy that is now the world’s second-biggest exporter of garments after China. It also may swell the ranks of Islamic militant groups in the predominately Muslim country, where a U.S. blogger who wrote about religious tolerance was hacked to death with a machete last week in Dhaka, the capital.
... Read More

DHAKA: Bangladesh Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina today had a narrow escape when several bombs exploded in a busy commercial area here minutes after her convoy passed through it.

Several crude bombs exploded in Dhaka's Karwan Bazar only 10 minutes after Hasina's convoy passed the area. Hasina was on her way to address a rally organised by the ruling Awami League in the capital's Suhrawardy Udyan, to mark the anniversary of the historic public address by ... Read More

Murder in Dhaka
27 February 2015
After the brutal killing of blogger Avijit Roy and the attack on his wife, free thought and critical thinking are under assault. By Salil Tripathi
EXCERPTS:
Roy was a feisty U.S.-based blogger of Bangladeshi origin, who was an avowed atheist. His blog is called Mukto Mona, or free mind, and there he wrote spirited essays criticizing religious fundamentalism. The website today carries the message: ‘Aamra shokahoto, kintu aamra oparajito’ (We are mourning but we ... Read More

Imported Bollywood Films Have Become Quite a Drama in Bangladesh
EXCERPTS:
Film distributors and cinema owners in Bangladesh have retaliated against popular actor Shakib Khan, who led protests against the screening of Indian movies in the country, by slapping a ban on all the films that he appears in.
Khan was not alone in his protest.....
Bangladesh has had a legal prohibition on Indian films dating back to a brief war between India and Pakistan in 1965, when Bangladesh was part of Pakistan. The government briefly lifted the ... Read More

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A court in Bangladesh issued an arrest warrant Wednesday for former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia after she failed to appear in court for the fourth time in two corruption cases against her.
Judge Abu Ahmed Jamadder issued the warrant in the capital, Dhaka, after he refused a bail plea by the defense, which said Zia needed more time because she was sick and concerned about her security because ... Read More

Bangladesh politician abducted amid unrest
Dhaka - A prominent Bangladesh opposition politician was abducted on Tuesday, allegedly by police, days after he appeared to say he was open to seeking military intervention to end the country's deadly political crisis.
... Read More

Company in Bangladesh Agrees to Union Peace
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE and HIROKO TABUCHI
After wielding intense pressure against a Bangladeshi apparel maker over assaults on union leaders outside its factories, Western companies have agreed to resume business with that manufacturer, on the condition that it stay committed to halting further violence and make peace with its labor unions.
VF, which makes North Face and Nautica, and PVH, the parent of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, as well as Gap, El Corte Ingles and ... Read More

DHAKA, Bangladesh—Last week, as violence escalated here, workmen reinforced the headquarters of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, adding coils of barbed wire to the eight-foot-high walls surrounding the compound.
Feuding between two top politicians has thrown parts of this country into upheaval, with street clashes, firebombings and shootouts killing more than 80 people since early January, and raised doubts about Bangladesh’s ... Read More

Benetton Group SpA on Friday agreed to contribute an unspecified amount to a fund established to compensate victims of the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh that killed more than 1,100 people and injured more than double that figure.

Read more at:http://www.wsj.com/articles/benetton-to-contribute-to-bangladesh-fund-1424444126 ... Read More

DHAKA, Bangladesh—A special court looking into atrocities committed during Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence sentenced a senior Islamist politician to death on Wednesday.
The court found Abdus Subhan, 79 years old, guilty of six out of nine charges against him, including murder, abductions and torture. Mr. Subhan is a central-committee member of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party, and a ... Read More

North Jersey Bangladeshis gather to celebrate monument in Paterson park
EXCERPT:
The event highlighted the emerging influence of northern New Jersey’s Bangladeshi community, which is centered on Paterson’s 2nd Ward. The Shohid Minar Monument pays tribute to a watershed event in their homeland’s struggle for independence – the killing of Bangladeshi students in 1952 during protests against West Pakistan’s refusal to recognize their language.
... Read More

Gold Smuggling in Bangladesh Is at an All-Time High — and Its Flagship Airline Is Involved
By Syed Tashfin Chowdhury
There was nothing unusual about the thrice-weekly Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight BG048 from Dubai via the Bangladeshi port of Chittagong which landed in the capital, Dhaka, at 8.30am on the morning of February 2. Except for the fact that it arrived two hours ahead of schedule — and that it carried a secret cargo: 485 gold bars stashed in compartments throughout the plane, in its toilets and life jacket cabinets.
The seizure, ... Read More

"The Dhaka-Agartala bus service has been completely stopped since last week. The Dhaka-Kolkata bus services were also become irregular due to the political turmoil in Bangladesh," a Tripura Road Transport Corporation (TRTC) official said.

He said: "We do not know when the bus services would be normalise. Due to the political violence in Bangladesh ... Read More

US condemns ongoing violence in Bangladesh
Washington, Feb 6: The US has strongly condemned the ongoing violence in Bangladesh and urged the ruling Sheikh Hasina government to provide necessary space for peaceful political activity.

"We deplore the unconscionable attacks including bus burnings, throwing incendiary devices, and train derailments that have killed and wounded innocent victims. We condemn in the strongest terms the use of violence for political objectives," State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf said yesterday.

Train services on the Chittagong-Dhaka-Sylhet route have resumed after six hours of suspension caused by the removal of fishplates from the railway tracks in Comilla by miscreants on the fifth day of the countrywide non-stop blockade enforced by BNP-led 20-party alliance.

The train services resumed around 11.30 a.m., the Daily Star quoted Anwar Hossain, the station master of Nangalkot, as saying.

The engine and a bogie of the Chittagong-bound Godhuli Express from Dhaka veered off the ... Read More

The 30-member Bangladeshi team, lead by DCM Feni Humayan Kabir Khanderkar, has travelled to Tripura to attend the India-Bangladesh Joint Border Conference, scheduled to start from January 9 at the state guest house.

The team was officially welcomed at the Akhaura integrated check post by Sepahijal district magistrate Dr Prashant Kumar Goyal.
... Read More

Mohammed Batyullah (42) was arrested from the border area in the evening, sources said, adding, he was carrying a laptop which had pictures of Osama Bin Laden stored in it.

Representational image. AFP

Representational image. AFP

He had no valid documents and was remanded to police custody for 14 days by a local court.
... Read More

Bangladesh President to visit India Dec 18
New Delhi: With the India-Bangladesh land swap agreement appearing poised to be implemented, Bangladesh President Mohammad Abdul Hamid will be paying a ceremonial visit to India Dec 18 at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee.

According to Bangladesh High Commissioner Syed Muazzem Ali, the president would be coming to India Dec 18 and preparations were on in full swing for the visit.

"The president is visiting as he was invited by President Mukherjee to visit ... Read More

UK journalist guilty of querying Bangladesh death toll
A court in Bangladesh has found a British man guilty of contempt for challenging the official death toll from the 1971 war of independence.
Judges said a 2011 blog post by David Bergman deliberately distorted history.
He was ordered to pay a fine of $65 (£40). If he failed to pay that, he would be imprisoned for seven days.

Dhaka's Unruly Campus Partisans
By Tahmima Anam
EXCERPT:
Dhaka alumni include leading Bangladeshi politicians, scientists, scholars, writers and artists. The Nobel Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus studied there, as did Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founder of the independence movement, and later his daughter, the current prime minister, Sheikh Hasina Wajed.
Each of the major political parties has a student wing, and many ministers and members of Parliament cut their teeth on student politics, before rising through the ranks. In recent years, however, student ... Read More

The arrest comes days after security officials said they had uncovered a plot by members of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, accused of carrying out scores of attacks in Bangladesh, targeting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The group also planned to assassinate the country's main opposition leader, Khaleda Zia, Indian officials said. Hasina and ... Read More

Bangladesh Jamaat chief gets death sentence for war crimes
Dhaka, Oct 29, 2014, (PTI):
Bangladeshs fundamentalist Jamaat-e- Islami chief Matiur Rahman Nizami was today sentenced to death by a special tribunal for his role in the killing of thousands of people during the nations independence war against Pakistan in 1971, triggering fears of violence.

Bangladesh's fundamentalist Jamaat-e- Islami chief Matiur Rahman Nizami was today sentenced to death by a special tribunal for his role in the killing of thousands of people during the nation's independence war ... Read More

Centre convenes meeting on new India-Bangladesh rail link
Agartala: The External Affairs Ministry has convened a meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday to finalise the pending issues relating to proposed Agartala (Tripura)-Akhaura (Bangladesh) new rail link project, official said here on Monday.

"Various pending issues relating to new Agartala-Akhaura rail link project would be discussed and expected to be finalised in Wednesday's meeting in New Delhi," Tripura Transport Secretary Samarjit Bhowmik told reporters.

The much important fourth inter-ministerial steering committee meeting was called by the ... Read More

Bangladesh Supreme Court on Wednesday accepted appeals against a verdict sentencing fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami’s former chief Ghulam Azam to 90 years in prison for committing crimes against humanity during 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.

The five-member apex court bench headed by chief justice M Muzammel Hossain fixed on December 2 for hearing appeals on ... Read More

DHAKA: The toll in an accident involving two passenger buses in Bangladesh has escalated to 34, media reported Tuesday.

Police said a Rajshahi-bound bus of Keya Paribahan Monday collided head-on with a Gurudaspur Upazila-bound bus of Othoi Paribahan in the Rejir Morh area of Natore district, bdnews24.com reported.

The government has opened an investigation into the mishap.

Witnesses and survivors blamed the Keya Paribahan bus for the accident saying it rammed into the other bus while overtaking ... Read More

Tendulkar unveils new Dhaka club
Sachin Tendulkar's presence at the logo unveiling ceremony of Legends of Rupganj, a newly-named Dhaka Premier League club, gave a much-needed image boost to the domestic one-day competition. He praised club owner Lutfar Rahman Badal for his efforts to form championship-winning clubs and said role models are necessary to produce new stars in Bangladesh.

Legends of Rupganj was previously known as Gazi Tank Cricketers, who are the defending champions of the Dhaka Premier League. BCB's requirements ... Read More

Bangladesh Army team completes white-water rafting expedition in Arunachal Pradesh
Jayanta Gupta,TNN
KOLKATA: Tutored by experts from the Indian Army, a 10-member Bangladesh Army team had a unique experience in the extremely turbulent waters of a tributary of the River Siang or Brahmaputra in Arunachal Pradesh recently. The team, under the watchful eyes of Indian instructors, covered 85 km over three days through the rapids of the Siyom River from Thumbin to Pangin in West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh.

Indian intelligence says it has already secured details on attempts by a Western intelligence agency to "destabilise" Bangladesh by using elements of the army to bring down the elected government, bdnews24.com reported.

The Bangladesh Foreign Minister, who is in New Delhi for the third meeting of the India-Bangladesh Joint Consultative Commission, had recalled the historical, cultural and economic links between both neighbours.

Expressing appreciation for the special emphasis given by the new government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to relations with the SAARC region and ... Read More

Sheikh Hasina, Narendra Modi to meet in US
Dhaka: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi are scheduled to meet in New York this month during the UN General Assembly (UNGA), media reported Saturday.

This would be the first meeting between Modi and Hasina after the BJP came to power in India in May, bdnews 24 reported.

Permanent representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations, Abulkalam Abdul Momen, said that the two leaders will meet Sep 27.

Absence of freedom of expression contributes to the non-existence of the rule of law
1.The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) wishes to share with the UN Human Rights Council the status of freedom of expression and opinion in Bangladesh.
2.Bangladesh's Constitution guarantees "Freedom of thought and conscience and of speech" in a strange manner. Article 39 of the Constitution reads:
"(1) Freedom of thought and conscience is guaranteed. (2) Subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interests of the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign states, ... Read More

Justice not afforded to victims of enforced disappearance
1.''The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) has made written submissions in the recent Sessions of the UN Human Rights Council on the prevalence of enforced disappearances in Bangladesh. To reiterate the overwhelming fact, victims of enforced disappearances in Bangladesh have no option of legal remedy from the criminal justice system. When this is reality, justice is simply a bridge too far.

2.''Article 32 of the Bangladesh Constitution guarantees the right to life and liberty, which reads: ... Read More

The Bangladesh Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for the removal of all structures, excluding those set up by the government to serve the public interest, from four rivers encircling Dhaka.

The rivers in question are the Shitalakkhya, Balu, Turag and Buriganga, reports the Daily Star.

After rejecting five review petitions, the Supreme Court's Appellate Division upheld its earlier verdict that had asked the government ... Read More

Bangladesh wins maritime dispute with India
The much-awaited verdict on the dispute regarding the delimitation of the maritime boundary between India and Bangladesh was delivered on Monday, with a United Nations tribunal awarding Bangladesh 19,467 sq. km of the 25,602 sq. km sea area of the Bay of Bengal.

The arbitral tribunal had informed both the parties of the verdict on Monday but an embargo prevented it from being made public before 24 hours. The content of the verdict of the long-standing ... Read More

EXCERPT: Unless, however, we think critically about the moral economy of food, about sustainability as well as growth, our food will remain tainted. If the rationality of urbanism — the city as the treasured engine of growth, the country merely its fodder — continues to dominate, we will merely be polishing the surface of a slowly rotting core.
... Read More

Their tin roofed houses were set on fire following a series of clashes between locals and people of Bihari origin.

The tenth person killed was identified as 30-year-old Azad.

According to the Daily Star newspaper, Azad was declared dead at the Dhaka Medical College and ... Read More

Big Brother Law for NGOs on the anvil
The Bangladesh government wants to quash human rights activism. The cabinet has approved the "Foreign Donations (Voluntary Activities) Regulations Bill, 2014", which will likely become law soon. The Bill empowers bureaucrats to decide the fate of NGOs and voluntary activities. All individuals or collectives, from NGO's to volunteer groups, receiving foreign funds for implementing projects will be under constant surveillance under this law.
The law will usher even more arbitrary executive actions in Bangladesh. The Bill, ... Read More

Judiciary undermines its own independence
1.The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) wishes to bring the status of the judiciary and legal profession of Bangladesh to the attention of the UN Human Rights Council.

2.Bangladesh has been Member of the Human Rights Council virtually since its formation. The country has been party to two international Covenants and eight Conventions. Being a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Bangladesh is obliged to ensure the independence of the judiciary. ... Read More

"Today's (Friday) meeting studied the various aspects of supplying 100 MW of power to Bangladesh. The meeting was held in view of the constitution of a four-member joint study committee by Bangladesh and Indian governments last month," an official of the Tripura State Electricity Corporation told reporters.

40 dead as Bangladesh ferry search called off
Rescuers called off the search for missing passengers of a sunken ferry in central Bangladesh on Saturday after retrieving 40 bodies, causing anger among relatives of those still unaccounted for.

The chief of Bangladesh's water transport authority, Shamsuddoha Khandaker, said that divers would leave the River Meghna site where the ferry M.V. Miraz-4 sank in a storm on Thursday. There was confusion over how many passengers were onboard, and authorities would not provide any complete list.

MPs Pre-Budget Meeting with the Power Minister Achieves a Milestone
Dhaka (Bangladesh), 15 May. In a pre-budget meeting with the Bangladesh State Minister of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, the Climate Parliament MPs have put forward a list of issues and demands to the Government for their immediate consideration, for the development of renewable energy in the country. The Budget session of Bangladesh Parliament will be convened in June.

The Bangladesh State Minister of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid, in this meeting between ... Read More

Chains of Corruption Strangle Nation
The rule of law does not exist in Bangladesh. The way the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) abducted seven men, including a senior lawyer and a member of the mayoral panel of the Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC), on 27 April 2014, and murdered them, allegedly on behalf of a feuding faction of the ruling party, in exchange for a 60 million Taka (US$ 774,000) bribe, is proof yet again of this fact.

'Children Of War' depicts the brutality of 1971 Bangladesh genocide
Director Mrityunjay Devvrat says his debut venture Children Of War is an attempt to answer questions that have been haunting him ever since he read The Unfinished Memoirs, the autobiography of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh. The book vividly describes the country's fight for freedom from Pakistan in 1971.

Devvrat says, "There were hundreds of stories that narrated love, loss and unimaginable brutality. They gave rise to a lot of questions in my ... Read More

Bangladesh's Chance to Get It Right
By Amy Yee
EXCERPT:
Rana Plaza became a symbol of what is wrong with Bangladesh’s garment industry. Now Bangladesh — supported by global clothing companies, international aid organizations and consumers who demand better — has the chance to get it right. “A lot of international pressure is very, very much important,” said Schmid. “Consumers are very important.”
Change can happen in Bangladesh. It has before. The country, for instance, has a surprisingly effective cyclone warning system that ... Read More

Adilur has been awarded the 2014 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights, which he will share with Mothers of Khavaran from Iran. The award will be presented in a public function held in Gwangju, South Korea, on 18 May 2014.

Tension along India-Bangladesh border
Agartala: Tension prevailed on Friday along the India-Bangladesh border in this northeastern state in the wake of some Bangladeshi nationals kidnapping two Indians from southern Tripura, officials here said.

"Seven Indians were working in their rubber gardens outside the border fencing at Rajnagar area in southern Tripura (190 km south of the state capital) on Thursday when Bangladeshi nationals took away two Indians just before evening. Five Indians managed to escape and reported the matter to ... Read More

Three Human Right Defenders Selected as Final Nominees for the Martin Ennals Award 2014.

This award is selected by the International Human Rights Community (See Jury Below) and given to Human Rights Defenders who have shown deep commitment and face great personal risk. The aim of the award is to highlight their work and protect them through increased visibility.

Cao Shunli (China): Her death in detention was announced on March 14th. She ... Read More

Bangladesh, with its low elevation and severe tropical storms, is among the countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, though it has contributed little to the emissions that are driving it. Credit Kadir van Lohuizen for The New York Times
Continue reading the main story Share This Page

DAKOPE, Bangladesh — When a powerful storm destroyed her riverside home in 2009, Jahanara Khatun lost more than the modest roof over her head. ... Read More

Human Rights activism at serious risk
1.The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) wishes to bring the situation of human rights defenders of Bangladesh to the attention of the UN Human Rights Council. The Government of Bangladesh has been denying opportunity for the human rights activism in the country. Systematic denial of the rights to defend human rights continues to silence constructively critical voices. As a result, the Human Rights Defenders of Bangladesh are in serious danger at this moment in the ... Read More

Bloomberg's $10M gift targets Bangladesh drownings
AP
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's foundation is donating $10 million to a program aimed at preventing the drowning of Bangladeshi children who may be improperly supervised while their parents are at work.

Bloomberg Philanthropies, the charity of the billionaire businessman and former mayor, is partnering with the World Health Organization and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to tackle the problem.

The initiative will fund community daycare and locally manufactured playpens. It will monitor ... Read More

A mortar shell went off accidentally during training in northwestern Bangladesh Wednesday leaving two army personnel and three paramilitary border guards dead and 11 others injured, said a military spokesman.

Shahinul Islam, Bangladesh Army's Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR) director, told Xinhua that the accident took place at about noon when paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel were undergoing training at a cantonment in Tangail, 92 km northwest of capital Dhaka.

A Bangladeshi cargo ship which set sail from here with 12 crew members was sinking after developing engine trouble on Sunday night in the Korankhali river in the Sundarbans in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas, police sources said today.

The ship, M V Haji Saheb, which had left Kolkata port and was bound for Mongla port in Bangladesh had 12 crew members on board, the sources said. ... Read More

14 sentenced to death in Bangladesh arms smuggling
Lutfuzzoman Babar, a former junior minister for home affairs, speaks to the media as he enters a prison van at a court in Chittagong, Bangladesh.
Dhaka: The head of the main Bangladeshi Islamist opposition party was among 14 people sentenced to death on Thursday on charges of smuggling weapons to a rebel group in neighboring India.

Security officials had seized more than 4,000 firearms and 1 million bullets and other military equipment in April 2004 when ... Read More

Authoritarian obstinacy wins, democracy loses
The Bangladesh Government and Election Commission have jointly staged their tragicomic ‘general election’ on January 5, 2014. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) reflected pre-election realities and portended election day and post-election horrors in its last statement . January 5 fulfilled its promise of violence, rigging, and farce; now it remains to be seen how low Bangladesh will sink in the wake of this fake election.

Without any surprise, the Bangladesh Awami League, the primary ... Read More

Ruling Party in Bangladesh Captures Parliament
By Syed Zain Al-Mahmood
DHAKA, Bangladesh—Bangladesh's premier celebrated preliminary results in a weekend election boycotted by the opposition that showed her party capturing 77% of the seats in Parliament.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina defended her decision to go ahead with the elections, calling the polls a "victory for democracy" despite low voter turnout and pledging to lead the country to a "pluralistic and prosperous" future.

"I don't think there can be any question about the credibility of ... Read More

Vigil increased on India-Bangladesh border
Kolkata: With General Elections to be held in Bangladesh on Sunday, the Border Security Force has stepped up vigil on this side of the border to prevent miscreants from crossing over to India.

"We have increased the manpower in the entire stretch of the Indo-Bangla border. Senior BSF officers are camping in the bordering areas to keep a watch. Security has been tightened, but as of now things are normal on the Indo-Bangla border," ADG (East) ... Read More

2 dead in fresh violence in Bangladesh
PTI
At least two people have been killed in clashes between pro- and anti-government supporters across Bangladesh, as five voting centres were set on fire amid the opposition’s nonstop blockade two days before the elections.

Police said a driver and a trader were killed and three others injured when suspected activists of main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its fundamentalist ally Jamaat-e-Islami hurled petrol bombs on an onion-laden truck at northwestern Hakimpur of Dinajpur district overnight.

Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina rules out election cancellation
A Bangladeshi youth uses a water bottle to spray water onto a burning bus as he is joined by others trying to extinguish the fire in Dhaka on January 2, 2014
Dhaka: Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ruled out on Thursday any last-minute cancellation of weekend elections that have been boycotted by the opposition, accusing her rivals of holding the country hostage.

In a final address to the nation ahead of Sunday's violence-plagued polls, Hasina accused ... Read More

Hartal Politics in Bangladesh
Shahnawaz Mantoo
Hartal is a term in many South Asian languages meaning strike action and is still commonly used in Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka. With the passing of time, the hope for political stability in Bangladesh is becoming more illusory and people from all walks of life are losing confidence in the ability of the present political leadership to establish a stable democratic political system.

His mission: place dollar values on the injuries and deaths of the garment workers.

Armed with mortality tables and tablet computers, the 48-year-old veteran of victim compensation started work for British discount retailer Primark days after the April collapse of the Rana Plaza factory ... Read More

UN should act immediately to save Bangladeshi lives
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is writing to you to bring to your attention the alarming reality in Bangladesh. In the lead up to the 5 January 2014 general election, citizens, identified by the incumbent government as supporters of the political opposition, are being extra-judicially executed, daily, by state agents. At the moment, a joint team of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and the Border Guards, Bangladesh (BGB) are engaged in rounding up people, ... Read More

After Bangladesh Factory Collapse, Bleak Struggle for Survivors
By JIM YARDLEY
SAVAR, Bangladesh — Inside the single room he shares with his wife and young child, Hasan Mahmud Forkan does not sleep easily. Some nights he hears the screams of the garment workers he tried to rescue from the wreckage of the Rana Plaza factory building. Or he dreams the bed itself is collapsing, sucking him down into a bottomless void.

A few miles away, at a rehabilitation center for the disabled, Rehana Khatun ... Read More

Shillong, Dec 7 (IANS) Meghalaya is keen to set up 22 more border 'haats' (markets) along the India-Bangladesh border to create economic opportunities for the people living along it. The haats, once thriving centres of trade and commerce, were shut down after the creation of Bangladesh in 1971.

Chief Minister Mukul Sangma told IANS: "We have sought for the establishment of 22 new border haats along the international border.

The truth has been placed before us that the passing of laws does not mean people will benefit from them without proper implementation through the criminal justice system in the particular country. In the words of the great poet Rabindranath Tagore, “facts are many, but the truth is one.”
... Read More

BJP airs concern over violence on Bangladesh minorities
Kolkata, Dec 5 (IANS) Expressing concern over "sustained violence against minorities in Bangladesh," the BJP Thursday submitted a memorandum to the Bangladesh high commission in the West Bengal capital, calling for steps to stop the violence.

West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party president Rahul Sinha submitted the memorandum, urging the Bangladesh government to prevent the violence, which he said might even disturb the peace in West Bengal.

"Besides the violation of their human rights, the violence on the ... Read More

Attorney General's Office Supersedes High Court
The Asian Human Rights Commission has learned that direct intervention from the Attorney General's Office of Bangladesh is preventing the release of ASM Nasiruddin Elan, Director of Odhikar, a Bangladesh based human rights organisations, despite the High Court having granted bail to the prominent human rights defender. That the Attorney General’s Office can impede a high court order so easily, is a telling example of the rule of lawlessness in Bangladesh.

"We have asked our soldiers to keep a close watch on the border situation. Our men remained vigilant round-the-clock along the borders, specially where a substantial number of people reside across the border," Border Security Force (BSF) public relations officer Bhaskar Rawat said.

Fires broke out at two Standard Group buildings in the industrial district of Gazipur outside the capital Dhaka at around midnight following clashes between workers and members of the management.

Police rushed to the spot and fired rubber bullet and teargas shells to disperse ... Read More

Standards for Bangladesh Garment Factories
By Syed Zain Al-Mahmood
DHAKA, Bangladesh—Three parallel safety pacts spurred by the death of more than 1,100 people in the April collapse of a Bangladeshi garment factory have agreed on common safety standards for factory inspections in Bangladesh.

Experts from the Accord on Fire and Safety in Bangladesh, led by mostly European retailers, the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, led by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. ... Read More

Release Human Rights Defender Elan Immediately
The Asian Human Rights Commission condemns the detention of ASM Nasiruddin Elan and demands his immediate release. Mr. ASM Nasiruddin Elan, Director of Bangladeshi human rights organization, Odhikar, has been detained in prison by the Cyber Crimes Tribunal of Dhaka, today, November 6, 2013. This detention is part of the continued repression against the whistle-blowers exposing the ongoing State-sponsored gross violations of human rights in Bangladesh. Elan has been charged by the country's police under ... Read More

New book "Human Rights and Governance: Bangladesh" released
(Hong Kong, November 6, 2013): The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) has published a new book titled, "Human Rights and Governance: Bangladesh" edited by Md Shariful Islam, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Dhaka, and contributed by eleven authors, including the editor, in nine chapters. The edited volume is an outcome of an ALRC project titled, "Corruption, Torture and Extrajudicial Killing in BANGLADESH: Examining the Role of State Institutions" that took place ... Read More

Political crisis and confusion galore are still mounting in Bangladesh over the next general election, which must be completed by January 24, 2014. The five-year term of the present Awami League led coalition government is to be over by December 2013, and it has to pave way for handing over the political power to a new regime elected by the millions of voters of the populous country.
With the 15th amendment of Bangladesh ... Read More

A judge convicted and sentenced to death the soldiers over the mutiny in which 74 people including officers were hacked to death, tortured or burnt alive before their bodies were dumped in sewers and shallow graves.

A Division Bench of the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh granted six months interim bail to Adilur Rahman Khan yesterday, 8 October 2013. Nearly after two months since the detention started on 10 August 10 the High Court has granted bail following rejection of the bail petitions by the Magistrate's Court ... Read More

Retailers' Group Publishes List of Bangladeshi Factories
Publication Reflects Belief That Safety Problems Can Only Be Fixed Through Group EffortBy CHRISTINA PASSARIELLO Bangladeshi garment workers produce clothing at a factory on the outskirts of Dhaka, in a photo taken on Dec. 8, 2012.

A group representing 90 clothing retailers Thursday released a list of the more than 1,500 factories they use in Bangladesh, a key step toward improving safety in the garment industry by making its supply chain more transparent.

“The treaty will come into force shortly after exchanging copies of the ratified agreement between the two countries,” said spokesman Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan. India has already ratified the agreement, he added.

The ratification of the treaty paves the way for Bangladesh to transfer Indian separatist leader, Anup Chetia, to ... Read More

It was back in August 10 that officers from the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police arrived at Adilur’s Dhaka residence and took him in custody.

Adilur, a practicing lawyer of the Supreme Court, who served as Deputy Attorney General for ... Read More

India begins electricity export to Bangladesh
India begins electricity export to Bangladesh Indo-Bangla cooperation in the power sector today entered a new phase, with the two countries breaking ground for a 1,320-MW coal-fired power plant and inaugurating a joint transmission line that will export 500 MW from India. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh joined the inauguration of the cross-country transmission line and the laying of the foundation stone for the Maitri Thermal Power Project through video conferencing, while his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh ... Read More

Bangladesh Garment Factories Often Evade Monitoring
By SHELLY BANJO CONNECT DHAKA, Bangladesh—Next Collections Ltd., one of more than two dozen factories owned by one of Bangladesh's largest garment producers, tells buyers its workday runs from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

"Electricity will tomorrow begin to flow from India to Bangladesh through a new transmission line, marking South Asia's first-ever high voltage direct current (HVDC) interconnection between two countries," the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which has part financed the project, said on Friday.
... Read More

Space for fundamental freedoms almost non-existent
The human rights situation in Bangladesh has suffered the worst during the past four years. The government's lack of tolerance to free speech and expression has seriously damaged the foundations for the establishment of the rule of law framework.

The ALRC and Odhikar are of the opinion that the criminal justice apparatus in the country is under the absolute control of the government that leaves little space to guarantee complaint making, impartial investigation and unbiased adjudication.

Indo-Bangla Maitree Express to be suspended for 2 days in Oct
New Delhi: Railways have decided to suspend the services of Kolkata-Dhaka Maitree Express for two days from October 15 on the request of Bangladesh Railway to avoid operational complications arising due to stoppage of train operations in that country on Eid festival.

The bi-weekly train between Kolkata and Dhaka will not run on October 15 and 16 due to Eid festival, said a senior Railway Ministry official.

Retailers are betting on Bangladesh's garment industry more than that of any other country in the coming years, new research shows, despite recent deadly factory accidents that have put their reputations at risk.

Bangladesh's $20 billion garment business came out ahead of smaller rivals Vietnam and Cambodia in the ranking of countries with the highest potential for future sourcing, according to a new study by consulting firm McKinsey & Co.

Oppression of free speech must end
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is concerned about the continued and arbitrary detention of Mr. Adilur Rahman Khan Secretary of Odhikar. The AHRC has learned that the government has introduced new allegations against Mr. Nasiruddin Elan, the Director of Odhikar, in an attempt to detain Elan as well, so as to absolutely cripple the functioning of the organisation.

Condemning the arbitrary arrest and detention of Adilur, the AHRC, along with other human rights organisations across ... Read More

Today, 30 August 2013, is the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearance. According to the UN Resolution A/RES/65/209 adopted in the Sixty-fifth Session of the General Assembly, the 30th day of August has been declared, and has been so observed since 2011, as the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance every year.

This Resolution was adopted following "...the increase in ... Read More

Four months after a building collapse killed more than 1,100 factory workers in Bangladesh, their families are still waiting for adequate — and in some cases, any — compensation. This is a shocking lapse by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government.

After the disaster at Rana Plaza, a poorly constructed eight-story building outside Dhaka, the capital, Ms. Hasina promised to give the relatives of those who died about $1,250 in cash and ... Read More

You said to me
“ I can bear anything”
with stubborn eyes you faced the sun
until blindness became a ball of flame
and the flame turned the sea to salt. – Lu Xiaobo : Ne enemies , No Hatred

It was few days ago that they came and dragged him to their vehicle and took him to a secret location for interrogation before producing him before the court at their convenience. Eventually, due to ... Read More

A panel set up by the nation’s finance ministry is recommending that the government replace officials on Grameen Bank’s board and take control of parts of the business, according to a letter signed by 40 people that was e-mailed to Bloomberg News. Abul ... Read More

Stop stifling the whistleblower, Adilur Rahman Khan arrested
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is informed that, at 10:20 p.m., on 10 August, officers from the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police have taken into custody, Mr. Adilur Rahman Khan, one of the most respected human rights defenders in Bangladesh, from his residence in Dhaka. Adilur is the Secretary of Odhikar, a prominent human rights organisation in the country, known for its critical assessments of human rights in performance and practice, by the ... Read More

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police has arrested Mr. Adilur Rahman Khan, one of most respected human rights defenders in Bangladesh and the Secretary of Odhikar. A group of plain clothed men picked up Mr. Adilur from his residence at 10:20 p.m., on 10 August 2013. ... Read More

DHAKA, Bangladesh—The government is set to announce a plan to take control of globally praised microlender Grameen Bank, drawing criticism from the supporters of its Nobel Prize-winning founder and raising questions about the motivation behind the move.

Over 1,800 Bangladeshi tribals, who fled across the Indian border into Tripura after ethnic strife broke out with non-tribal Muslims, returned to their villages after Dhaka assured them security, officials said here Monday.

"Three Bangladeshi MPs and officials of BGB (Border Guard Bangladesh) and local administration have assured the tribals full security. The tribals returned to their villages Sunday evening," Border Security Force (BSF) Deputy Inspector General Bhaskar Rawat told IANS.

A group of persons abducted Mr. Shahed Kayes, a well-respected human rights defender, working in Narayanganj district of Bangladesh, yesterday, 24 July. The AHRC is informed that Kayes' abductors, with intent to murder him, stabbed Kayes and cut his writ and assaulted him severely. Fortunately, due to immediate public intervention Kayes ... Read More

Bangladesh legislator arrested after fracas with journalists
Police arrest a ruling party lawmaker after he allegedly assaults two journalists of a private television channel during the weekend.
Golam Maula Rony was arrested after a court cancelled the bail he had posted earlier when criminal charges were brought by private broadcaster Independent Television, police spokesman Masudur Rahman said.

Mr. Rony allegedly assaulted a reporter and cameraman who had gone to his office to interview him on Saturday. He denied the allegation and obtained bail from ... Read More

A group of persons abducted Mr. Shahed Kayes, a well-respected human rights defender, working in Narayanganj district of Bangladesh, yesterday, 24 July. The AHRC is informed that Kayes' abductors, with intent to murder him, stabbed Kayes and cut his writ and assaulted him severely. Fortunately, due to immediate public intervention ... Read More

90-year-old Ghulam Azam, compared by prosecutors to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, was found guilty of all five charges of planning, conspiracy, incitement, complicity, and murder and torture during the war, which the government says killed three million people.

However, Mr Azam, the wartime head of the country's largest Islamic party, ... Read More

Torture-friendly & Corrupt Policing Needs Urgent Reform
Until 2012, Bangladesh was a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council. On the international stage, the country had no qualms in making voluntary pledges for protecting the universally enshrined human rights of its citizens. Bangladesh has claimed that it adheres to all major human rights instruments and that it is fully committed to the principles of good governance, democracy, rule of law, and the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms of all ... Read More

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Not even two months after the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory building claimed more than 1,100 lives, a team of engineers arrived to assess another factory in the center of the capital. It was named Al-Hamra Garments, and it was one of hundreds of factories undergoing ... Read More

The Obama administration on Thursday will suspend trade privileges for Bangladesh over concerns about safety problems and labor rights violations in that country’s garment industry, according to administration and Congressional officials.

The administration has come under intense pressure to suspend Bangladesh’s trade privileges after a factory building there collapsed in April, killing 1,129 workers, and after a factory fire killed 112 workers last November.
... Read More

The availability of low-cost workers has sent mass-market clothing labels of all stripes—H&M, Gap, Wal-Mart, Zara and others—into Bangladesh's $20 billion garment industry.

But designer brands including Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren and Hugo Boss also have outsourced manufacturing to Bangladesh, where worker safety has become a huge issue following several fatal accidents. Indeed, ... Read More

Dhaka: Bangladesh is likely to deport jailed ULFA leader Anup Chetia to India as he sought his repatriation along with two other detained members of the outfit after languishing 16 years in jail, officials said here on Saturday.

"Wait (and see)," Home Minister Mahiuddin Khan Alamgir said without elaborating as asked exactly when Chetia was expected to be deported.

But a Home Ministry official preferring anonymity said the United Asom Liberation Front ... Read More

10 Islamist militants get death in Bangladesh
Ten militants of a banned Bangladeshi Islamist outfit were sentenced to death on Thursday by a fast-track court here after they were found guilty of involvement in a deadly suicide bombing in 2005 that claimed eight lives.

The court handed down death penalty to 10 operatives of the banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) for the 2005 suicide bomb attack that killed eight people, including lawyers, at suburban Gazipur.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about several elderly people being pushed into starvation in the Palash Bari area of the Gaibandha district of Rangpur division. Most of these elderly people are living in penury with no family to look after them and are forced into begging or living on doles offered by kind hearted neighbours for ... Read More

Bangladesh’s parliament amended the tough anti-terrorism law re-defining “terrorism” and allowing courts to accept internet materials as evidence, amid protests from opposition which feared it was designed to target them.

“The (anti-terror) bill suggests provisions to effectively control terrorism through inter-state cooperation. It offers the central bank the authority to freeze suspicious accounts without court orders,” ... Read More

The incident follows the collapse of a building housing five garment factories in April that killed 1,129 people and triggered renewed scrutiny of "made-in-Bangladesh" clothes commonly sold in the West.

"Primarily we suspect the water supply of the Starlight Sweaters factory was poisoned or contaminated," local industrial police officer ... Read More

Bangladesh garment hub reopens after unrest
Dhaka: Hundreds of garment factories in a Bangladesh manufacturing hub reopened Friday, days after they were closed down due to unrest sparked by the country's worst industrial tragedy, employers said.

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association shut down the factories at the Ashulia industrial area on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka earlier this week after tens of thousands of workers went on the rampage.

But the BGMEA, which represents the country's 4,500 garment manufacturers, decided late ... Read More

Fire at Bangladesh Garment Factory Kills at Least 7
A fire at a garment factory in Dhaka killed at least seven people, highlighting the dangers plaguing the Bangladeshi clothing industry two weeks after another factory collapsed in the country’s worst industrial disaster.

The fire broke out overnight at Tung Hai Sweaters Ltd. killing the owner of the factory, according to Nazrul Islam, a spokesman for the Bangladesh Fire Service. The plant was closed for the night and there were no workers inside, according to ... Read More

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — At least 15 people died in clashes Monday between police and Islamic hardliners demanding that Bangladesh implement an anti-blasphemy law, police said.

A police official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said eight people, including two policemen and a paramilitary soldier, were killed in clashes in Kanchpur just outside the capital, Dhaka.

Escape seemed near that afternoon of April 24, hours after the eight-story building where she worked outside Bangladesh’s capital collapsed, especially when so many more had died -- more than 600 at last count. But before she could be rescued, Pakhi, whose name means little bird, faced a life-altering decision: She could be freed only if rescuers hacked off her legs.

She begged for hours. The rescue team said no. The army, ... Read More

A Bangladesh tribunal convicted a top Islamic party politician on Thursday of atrocities stemming from the nation's 1971 independence war and sentenced him to death.

The verdict against Muhammad Kamaruzzaman was the fourth verdict in Bangladesh's war crimes tribunals since January, and many feared it could spark another wave of deadly street violence between his supporters and security forces.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called the trials a long-overdue effort at obtaining justice against war criminals ... Read More

A massacre of demonstrators
News reports from Bangladesh allege that a series of attacks on demonstrators have taken place, at around 3am today, May 6, 2013. The extent of the injuries and death is difficult to be ascertained at the moment. The Daily Star, a Bangladeshi newspaper, gave the figure of deaths as 5. However, several internet reports have mentioned that the number of deaths could be as high as 2,500 or more. Pictures of dead bodies have also ... Read More

Dhaka: At least 14 people have been killed and scores injured in Bangladesh as Islamists, demanding a tougher blasphemy law, fought pitched battles with the police today in the capital, prompting a ban on public rallies.

The newly-floated Hefazat-e-Islam or "Protectorate of Islam" enforced their "Dhaka siege" programme yesterday to mount pressure on the secular Awami League-led government to implement their 13-point demand, including the enactment of a blasphemy law to punish those who insult Islam ... Read More

Government suppressed truth to the UPR Session
Bangladesh participated in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process at the UN Human Rights Council on 29 April 2013 in the 16th Session of the UPR Working Group in Geneva, Switzerland. The Government's delegation led by Foreign Minister Dr. Dipu Moni presented Bangladesh's national report during the second cycle of the UPR process under the UN human rights mechanisms.

The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) and Odhikar participated in the UPR Session and found that the ... Read More

Bangladesh suspends mayor for building tragedy
Dhaka: Bangladesh authorities on Thursday suspended the mayor of Savar town for approving and failing to shut a garment factory block which collapsed last week killing at least 429 people.

Mohammad Refayet Ullah was suspended because his office had approved the eight-storey Rana Plaza and then failed to take action when cracks appeared in its structure a day before the tragedy, the country's local government secretary said.

Soldiers stand in the rubble, two days after a huge section of an eight-story building that housed several garment factories collapsed in Savar. |AP
Soldiers stand in the rubble, two days after a huge section of an eight-story building that housed several garment factories collapsed in Savar. |AP

The toll in last week's building collapse on the outskirts of Bangladesh capital Dhaka climbed to 501 Friday, the authorities said.

SAVAR, Bangladesh — Barely 20 miles from the national capital, this gritty suburb is now a dusty, chaotic industrial center littered with factories that produce clothes for leading Western brands. Building codes are often unenforced, regulatory oversight is flimsy and the men wielding power often travel with armed guards.

Bangladesh authorities arrested Sohel Rana, the owner of the building where at least 362 people were killed when the factory complex collapsed on April 24, the biggest disaster in the country’s garment industry.

Rana was arrested in the western town of Benapole, along the border with India, and is being flown to the capital Dhaka by helicopter, Jahangir Kabir Nanak, state minister for local government, told reporters at the ... Read More

Attorney General Attacks Family's Right to Represent Prisoners
On 18 April 2013, the Attorney General for Bangladesh Mr. Mahbubey Alam participated in the hearing of a writ petition before a High Court Division Bench of the Bangladesh Supreme Court. The writ was filed by Mrs. Firoza Mahmud, wife of Daily Amardesh's Interim Editor Mahmudur Rahman. Mrs. Mahmud had challenged the order of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court, Dhaka, for sending Mahmudur to police remand in violation of the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court.

Coalition to protest the arrest of bloggers
An international coalition of atheist and humanist organizations, led by the Center for Inquiry, the International Humanist and Ethical Union, American Atheists, and CFI-Canada, will protest the arrest and persecution of atheist bloggers and other dissenters in Bangladesh with demonstrations in New York, Washington, London, Ottawa, and other cities around the world on Thursday, April 25.

SAVAR, Bangladesh: With deep cracks visible in the walls, police had ordered a Bangladesh garment building evacuated the day before its deadly collapse, but the factories flouted the order and kept more than 2,000 people working, officials said Thursday. At least 194 people died when a huge section of the eight-story building splintered into a pile of concrete.

The disaster in the Dhaka suburb of Savar came less than five months after a blaze killed ... Read More

Intervene immediately to save the life of detained journalist Mr. Mahmudur Rahman
Today, 11 April 2013, the authorities in Bangladesh have arrested the Interim Editor of a prominent Bangladeshi daily, Daily Amardesh, Mr. Mahmudur Rahman. Officers raided Rahman's office at about 8:30 am and taken away by the Detective Branch of Bangladesh Police. Rahman's arrest is an attempt to stifle dissenting voice. Rahman is in a serious risk of torture and even extrajudicial execution. Rahman is not informed about the reasons for the raid, or arrest. The ... Read More

DHAKA: Unidentified miscreants today hurled three crude bombs apparently targeting a parked car being used by Indian High Commissioner in Bangladesh during a visit to southwestern Khulna district, injuring three people including his driver.

"The High Commissioner (Pankaj Saran) is completely unhurt and there is nothing to be worried about... he will return to Dhaka in line with his visit schedule," an Indian high commission spokesman told .

A police official in Khulna said unidentified miscreants hurled ... Read More

Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina has firmly rejected demands by Islamists for a new anti-blasphemy law to punish those who defame Islam and Prophet Muhammad. In a BBC interview, she said existing laws were sufficient to punish anyone who attempted to insult religion. Her comments came just days after hundreds of thousands of supporters of an umbrella organisation of Islamists held a massive rally in Dhaka. The marchers called for the death penalty for those ... Read More

UN rights experts appeal to all sides to immediately stop the ongoing violence
GENEVA (29 March 2013) – A group of United Nations independent human rights experts today called on all parties in Bangladesh “to cease violence immediately and return to peaceful demonstrations,” after worrying levels of violence have been reported following large-scale protests across the country since 5 February 2013.

The protests have largely occurred in the context of the Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal’s trials and verdicts. The Tribunal was established by the Bangladeshi Government in 2010 as ... Read More

DHAKA: President Pranab Mukherjee today made out a strong case for Bangladesh granting transit and connectivity to India, contending that this can pave the way for greater integration in South and South East Asia.

As India presses Bangladesh for the transit to connect its mainland to the northeastern Indian states to address their developmental and security concerns, Mukherjee stressed on transit in the larger context of this country's geographical location.

The tribunal on war crimes established in March 2010 has pushed Bangladesh to extreme violence. Since 28 February, the events have taken a violent turn in which almost 100 persons including women, children and police officers have lost life. Several hundreds more are injured, and properties destroyed of which no body in the country has any true count. Many, who have lost ... Read More

Dhaka: A top leader of Bangladesh's fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami party was today sentenced to death for "crimes against humanity", including genocide and religious persecution, during the country's 1971 war of independence against Pakistan.

A special Bangladeshi tribunal handed down death penalty to Delwar Hossain Sayedee, vice-president of the party, amid a nationwide shutdown called by Jammat.

"He (Delwar Hossain Sayedee) will be hanged by neck till he is dead," pronounced chairman of the three-judge International Crimes Tribunal Justice ... Read More

Bangladesh clashes over war crimes verdicts kill 52
DHAKA: Fresh clashes erupted on Friday in Bangladesh, bringing the number of people killed to 52 in violence triggered by convictions for Islamist leaders over war crimes committed during the 1971 independence war.

A rickshawpuller was killed after hundreds of pro-government supporters and followers of the rival Jamaat-e-Islami party clashed with sticks at a market in the northern district of Gaibandha, local police chief Nahidul Islam said.

Security has been tightened around thousands of mosques across the ... Read More

A bunch of university students in Islamabad, with whom I was informally conversing yesterday, hadn't heard of either. Of course, they knew of Tahrir Square and Afzal Guru's recent execution. But they showed little interest upon learning that Shahbag Square was in Dhaka and that, as we spoke, the city was seething with protest. Between 100,000 to 500,000 Bengalis had converged to Shahbag to sing patriotic songs, recite poems and read out episodes from ... Read More